The present invention relates to book binding and particularly to preparing the back of the book for adhesive binding.
It is well known that it is desirable to notch the back of a book in order to properly prepare the book for adhesive binding. Notching the back of the book provides additional surface area for the adhesive to contact to better hold the pages of the book together. U.S. Pat. No. 1,248,252 discloses such a notching mechanism. Notching essentially shears away portions of the back of the book to leave a groove extending across the back of the book. The cutter blades used to form the notches must move through the book with a force sufficient to shear away those portions without otherwise tearing or ripping the book. To generate the sufficient force, the cutter blades move at a relatively high rate of speed.
The cutter blades of known binder notching mechanisms are typically driven by a drive for the book conveyor. Often the drive must be stopped or slowed to access the binder which also stops or slows the speed of the cutter blades. When the conveyor is then accelerated back to a desired operating speed, the cutter blades must also accelerate to sufficient speed to form the notches. However, while the cutter blades are accelerating, the back of the book may become damaged due to tearing or ripping or may not receive the quality notch which is needed to properly bind the book. Also, the notching mechanism of U.S. Pat. No. 1,248,252 is mounted to move with the book being notched. This results in a very complicated structure.
Therefore, a need exists for a notching mechanism which will move cutter blades at a sufficient speed to form good quality notches in the back of the book and which is of a simplified construction.